1. Field of Invention
This invention relates to roller skate blades for use on artificial ice surfaces and roller mounting apparatuses therefor, and sharpening rollers thereof.
2. Description of Related Art
While ice skates have been and continue to be optimized for skating on ice, recently, ultra-high-molecular-weight polyethylene (UHMWPE or UHMW) has been developed as a substitute for conventional ice. Such material is referred to as “synthetic ice” and has unique mechanical and chemical properties. This synthetic ice is available from suppliers such as EXTRAICE, S. L. SOCIEDAD LIMITADA SPAIN of Sevilla SPAIN; Scansis A S, Norway; Ice Rink Engineering and Manufacturing, LLC of Greenville, S.C., USA; and SmartRink Canada. This synthetic ice requires little maintenance, lower capital costs and can produce lower operating costs compared to conventional ice.
Various skate blades have been designed for use on synthetic ice surfaces and there are various designs for conventional in-line roller skates. One such design is described in DE published patent application No. DE19705472 entitled “Sports Shoe with Slide Piece for Track”. This application describes a skate having four in-line rollers wherein either all of the rotational axes of the rollers lie in a common plane and the frontmost and rearmost rollers have smaller diameters than the middle rollers or all rollers are about the same diameter and the central axes of rotation of the two middle rollers are disposed at a greater distance from the bottom of the foot than the two outer rollers. This causes the front and rear rollers to be raised off of the skating surface by a distance when skating in a level orientation. However, the angle of rotation required to engage the forward-most roller or the rear roller with the skating surface by pivoting forward or backward on the skate is relatively large with only four rollers and with the angles described in that application. Consequently, any forward and rearward rotational movement of the skate would appear to result in jerky movements that would not facilitate the finesse and artistic moves of an ice figure skater and would not facilitate the fine range of movement required of a hockey player or a hockey goal tender, or other precision skaters.
In addition, the rollers used on many existing in-line roller skates have flat annular running surfaces which is fine for use on high friction surfaces such as concrete or asphalt, but which are too smooth for use on synthetic ice surfaces, which have relatively low coefficients of friction. Flat annular running surfaces can slide sideways too easily on synthetic ice surfaces, which prevents skaters from performing power strokes for accelerating, from stopping effectively and from carrying out the finesse and accuracy required in performing turns and artistic moves.
The above mentioned German Patent describes rollers which have sharp circumferential edges with a half round or semi-circular shape between the edges and that this semi-circular shape is reground after a certain period of use, but provides no explanation of how to grind such a rotatable roller.